Key Events

Similar queues happened three times last year

Families faced huge queues outside the zoo on three separate occasions last year.

All three happened during different school half term holidays, twice due a cut-price ticket offer.

Leicestershire Live asked the attraction whether it had plans to formulate a strategy to tackle the long queues, which happened at the zoo again today.

It has not yet replied.

Here is a timeline of the scenes last year.

16:22KEY EVENT

Statement in full from Twycross Zoo

Karen Clarke, chief operating officer at Twycross Zoo said:

February Half Term is a very busy time for us and we have been welcoming visitors as quickly as possible into the zoo so they can enjoy a great family day out. As a charity our visitors’ patience and support is greatly appreciated so we can continue our award winning conservation work. To help visitors make the most of their day we advise they arrive early, check travel alerts before their journey and prepare for the possibility of a queue as the school holidays are one of our busiest times. We hope everyone has a great visit.

14:48

Customers giving up after the queues

One person tweeted: “Sacked it off after waiting for 2 hours, annual leave day wasted, kids fed up.

“You should have anticipated the high demand. I’ve e-mailed for a refund!”

Still no statement from Twycross at the moment.

14:30

Customers not happy

Still no sign of a statement from Twycross at this time.

Many people are still not happy with the queues towards Twycross.

One person tweeted: “Very disappointed this was our first family trip out since my daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia and we’ve spent the time in a queue.

“Absolutely gutted. Daughter feels ill as we’ve no food or toilet.”

13:19

'I wonder how many tickets you sold for today and why you didn’t see the problem coming?'

At around midday a spokesperson for Twycross said a statement was being prepared - no sign of it yet though.

There’s plenty of disappointed people getting in touch with them, with one person tweeting: “We have had no option now but to turn around after queuing for 2 and a half hours.

“Three massively disappointed children and out of pocket now for the tickets. I have only 1 day off this week.

“Are you going to be honouring the tickets for the future?”

Another person tweeted to say: “2 hours in the car and no movement.

“Kids fed up. Gran fed up. Mum fed up and and within 1 mile I am turning around. And bang there goes my 1 day off.

“I too had pre-booked. I wonder how many tickets you sold for today and why you didn’t see the problem coming?”

12:52

Police warn of heavy traffic

Leicestershire Police have warned the public about the traffic around Twycross.

12:44

Advance ticket bookings showed it would be busy

Twycross posted on their Facebook page that they advance bookings showed how busy it would be. The statement on the page said:

Lots of visitors are with us in the zoo today and advance bookings show it’s going to be busy. If you haven’t already booked tickets, our offer is available all week until 24th February 2019. Thank you for your patience.

12:22

Traffic map shows huge queues leading up to the zoo

Traffic queuing along the A444 leading up to Twycross Zoo (Image: Google)

12:15

Reports of four mile tailbacks

Twitter users have reported four mile tailbacks along the A444 leading up to the zoo.

12:10

Not the first time customers have had problems getting to the zoo

In January last year, traffic came to a standstill as families arrived to make the most of another half price offer.

Queues reportedly stretched back four miles from the entrance and the zoo had to adopt a one out, one in policy.

Visitors at the time called the situation ‘absolute carnage’.

Read the story from last year here:

12:04KEY EVENT

Twycross advise families to come 'later this week'

Twycross have tweeted to say that people who have not set off yet should come later this week.